Video or it didn’t happen

Adidas and digital agency Grow pulled off a feat this spring almost as impressive as a Boston Marathon qualifying time. Working together, they created a customized video for each of the more than 30,000 runners in this year’s event within 24 hours. The effort, dubbed “Here to Create Legend,” celebrated 30 years of partnership between adidas and the Boston Athletic Association; adidas is the exclusive footwear and apparel partner of the race.

A crew of 18 people and eight cameras along the course on April 16 captured personalized footage and background “b-roll” shots; RFID chips on each runner’s race bib were triggered at certain checkpoints, generating data and transforming the entire race into a creation engine, according to Grow CEO and Executive Creative Director Drew Ungvarsky. The team prepared at various regional races, and everything went off as planned in Boston — even if the miserable weather did its best to throw a kink in the works.

Adweek reported in the days immediately following the event that more than half of runners had viewed their videos (if not shared them). Within two days, the videos had amassed a collective 100,000 views with a 95 percent completion rate.